Cecilia raised her head so she could look him in the eyes. She was not sure what she was searching for but when she did not find it, she looked away.

"Let's join them," Cecilia said as she stood up.

"Alright," he said, "they planned to take pictures in the front yard."

"Okay," Cecilia said and followed Elijah outside.

"Picture time" took an hour and a half. The Valiants had hired a professional photographer. They took group pictures, family pictures, and individual pictures. On the individual pictures, Cecilia stepped in with Leon. She knew the adults would not see her and when Leon loses his eyes, he won't be able to see her, either. But she figured that she could always have a copy for herself.

"Who's hungry?" Mrs. Valiant asked excitedly after the photographer left.

Leon excitedly raised his hand.

As it turned out, the Valiant's had also hired a professional chief.

They all sat at a long table that was covered with a white cloth. They ate off of expensive looking china.

The Valiants had everything planned and even went as far as having seats for Elijah and Cecilia.

"I think it's so cute how they have 'Imaginary Friends'," Mrs. Valiant said. The adults were at one end of the table and Leon and Sillie were at the other. They were too busy talking to each other to listen to the adult conversation.

"Sillie named hers 'Eli'," Mr. Valiant said.

"Leon's friend is named Cece," Mr. Boston said, "I wonder how they come up with such elaborate creations."

"You know, Sillie loves hearing stories, maybe that's how. I bet she could write colorful stories in the future," Mrs. Valiant said, "and become a famous author."

"I'm sure she will as long as she has you two supporting her," Nana said with a smile, "she is lucky to have you as parents."

Cecilia could see Mr. Valiant reach for Mrs. Valiant's hand, "thank you so much for saying that."

"Leon is lucky to have you two raising him. I have never meet a young boy with such good manners and with such a big heart as him," Mrs. Valiant said, "I really want our children to someday get married so I can keep him with us forever." She started laughing, "oh look at me, already planning their wedding and they're only four."

"What are you thinking?" Elijah asked her. He was sitting to the right of her.

Cecilia sighed and leaned back in her chair, "I don't know."

"I dont believe you. You're always thinking of something," Elijah said.

"I am, but sometimes I can't put my thoughts together," she said.

"Hm, I see. Do you want me to help you?" he asked.

"No."

"You didn't even consider it."

"I didn't have to."

"You're so frustrating at times."

"Thanks."

Cecilia gave him a small smile and checked the time on the clock on the wall. It read seven at night. There was five hours left of Christmas Eve.

"Thank you for the food, Mrs. and Mr. Valiant," Leon said, "thank the cook for me, too."

"You are very welcome, young man," Mr. Valiant said.

"Oh- I can't wait any longer!" Mrs. Valiant said, "can we open presents now? I can't wait till Leon sees his present!"

"Is it okay with you two?" Mr. Valiant asked Nana and Mr. Boston.

"That sounds good to us," Mr. Boston smiled.

"Yay!" Mrs. Valiant clapped her hands and stood from her chair.

"Help me get his present, Sillie," Mrs. Valiant took Sillie's hand and walked out of the kitchen.

"I'm so excited," Leon looked at Cecilia with the biggest smile on his face. Cecilia tried smiling back but she could not help but think about how the night could change for the worse at any second. She wanted to keep these small moments with Leon. His smile. His laugh.

"Let's go into the living room and wait to open the presents," Mr. Valiant said.

They followed him into the living room where a large tree was set up elegantly with white lights and at the bottom was what seemed like endless presents.

Leon was on all fours looking at the wrapped up presents.

"I wonder what the present in the backward is," Cecilia wondered out loud. She was leaning on the wall with Elijah to the right of her.

"It's great. He's going to love it," Elijah said.

That was when she felt it. It made the hairs on her body stand up and every nerve in her body go on high alert.

She grabbed Elijah's wrist hard, "how dare you." She knew her nails were digging into his skin and she could feel blood on her finger tips.

He chuckled, "why don't we take this outside, my little angel."

She was glaring at him with nothing but hatred. How could he have changed all of a sudden? He seemed darker now, like how did all that time ago on the swings.

"Shut up," she said through gritted teeth. Deep down, she knew it was Elijah. All the signs pointed to him. She should have known better.

"What's wrong, Cece?" she heard Leon say. She could hear how worried he was in his voice but did not dare to take her eyes off Elijah.

"Open your backpack, Leon. You're going to open my gift. Now," she said firmly.

"Is everything okay?" she could see Leon stand up with her peripheral vision.

"Just do it, Leon," she said.

He did as told and pulled out the small box.

Elijah kept his eyes on her, "you think what's in that box is going to save them?"

"What do you mean 'them'," Cecilia asked, she dug her nails deeper into his skin.

"You think I'm here just for Leon?" He laughed, "oh how cute. You're so clueless."

"It's cold," Leon said as he clipped the bracelet on.

"Is your necklace on?" she asked Leon.

"I don't take it off," he said.

"It's ready!" Sillie walked into the room holding onto a red leash. Connected to the leash was a Dalmatian puppy.

"How cute!" Nana exclaimed.

"Don't move, Leon," Cecilia said. A line moved down her arm and manifested into a clone. The clone ran to the puppy and held her hand over it, trying to sense if something was off.

"What are you doing, Cece?" she heard Sillie say.

"You see, little angel, I'm here for the girl. She might be blind to humans, but to us, she sees perfectly clear," Elijah laughed, "you didn't even know!"

When the clone's hand went over the collar, she felt a dark force. It was so strong, Cecilia cold feel it in her real body. The clone ripped it off and ran outside.

A large eruption knocked Cecilia into the wall. She hit her head hard but did not let go of Elijah.

"Well, I guess I don't need this body anymore," Elijah said as his body went limp. Cecilia cursed under her breath and looked around. All the adults were knocked unconscious on the floor. The clone in Leon's necklace had emerged and was carrying Leon and her tiger had thrown itself over Sillie and the puppy to protect them from the blast. The tiger was originally patrolling the outside of the house but must have come when he saw the clone run out of the building.

"Stay with the children," she walked past them and headed towards the gaping hole in the house where the tree once stood. Half of the mansion must have been blown away. She knew exactly where the demon was.

She could sense him.

She tried to form her twin blades but they stayed as bracelets.

"I told you to go to the backyard," he stood in the middle of the grass. His long black hair was tied back in a pony tail and he was wearing the black suit she had seen him in earlier.

"If it makes you feel better, nobody had been able to figure out it was Elijah," he said.

"It doesn't," she said.

"Let's talk," he said.

"No," she lunged for him but he easily dodged her.

"I expected more from you, Cecilia," he said.

She took a step back. He was right. She was being too hot headed. She needed to examine the situation and act accordingly.

"Fine, lets talk," she said.

His lips formed a smile, "good. Now lets see. Where to start. Where to start."

She waited for him to begin.

"Well, first, I feel I should inform you that you can't call for help and you can't teleport out of here. The blast set up blockers for your hand and eye pieces," he said, "and my name is Belial."

That explained why she could not form her blades. That name, she had read about it. Belial was one of Lucifer's most venerable demons.

"Thanks for telling me," she said shortly.

"Now it's story time," he said.

"Once upon a time, there was an archangel who liked to visit the human world every once in a while. This archangel would always appear as a blind child with no memory of what they actually were. Some times they were a boy. Some times they were a girl. In the early years, it was hard to tell who was blind and who was the archangel, but then science and technology advanced and they cured blindness. Imagine my excitement when I learned about a girl who underwent multiple surgeries but was still blind. I stayed here in this ugly city waiting for her to be assigned with a Friend for my plan to get started. 

Elijah Blue then arrived. Poor thing, he didn't even know I was camping out in his subconscious. All those sexual urges of his toward you, he could not explain it. You know, he really was him, I only talked for him a few times. Oh it was so much fun, that day on the swings. I know you liked it, you can't hid it from me. When I entered his mind, I found out his mother worked at the main tower that monitored the World. I was so happy. I would just walk into the building, nobody stopped me. I would talk to his mother, and while I was talking to her, I would search her mind and find out where I could send sins to cause as much havoc as I possible could. It was so much fun.

But then they sent you to investigate. I knew you were different the moment I saw you. The energy you gave off-" he licked his lips "-was so intoxicating. I wanted more, I almost exposed myself right then and there. I tried searching your mind, but I could not get through the defenses with out triggering you, and I couldn't have that. So I waited until I saw you in my real body so I could give you that glimpse into the future. I know you-"

"I've heard enough," Cecilia said.

"Look, nobody has to get hurt, well, actually, that's a lie. Sillie has to die. There is no way around that. I need those eyes. But Leon, I could spare his life. It would cost you, though, and I know you're smart enough to know what the price would be. I know how much you love him, that much is obvious. You can fake your niceness around the other Friends but your feelings for that boy is genuine," he said.

"Nobody. Is. Dying," she said, "except you."

"Say it again," Belial moaned, "call me a dirty, dirty demon. Tell me you're going to punish me."

He was trying to provoke her. Before she could react, he was in front of her, holding her face in his hands.

"Just give in to me. I can make you feel things you've never felt before," he seductively whispered.

The goosebumps returned and she hated how her body was reacting to him.

"Get away from me," she growled.

"That's not what your body is saying," he licked her cheek.

She pushed him away from her. She needed to focus, those two children were relying on her. She was their only hope.

"Look, Cecilia, if you're going to play hard to get, I'm going to have to move on with my original plan. He blurred past her inside the house and she chased after him. He was faster than any other opponent she had ever faced. She watched her tiger shield Sillie but the demon threw him aside.

"Fluffy!" Leon yelled. Sillie was holding desperately onto the puppy.

"Go away!" Sillie screamed.

Cecilia tackled Belial to the floor but he did not counter her. He laid on his back with her straddling him.

He gripped her thighs and licked his lips, "I knew you would come around."

She grabbed a shard of broken glass from the floor and tried stabbing him but he raised his hand and the glass pierced through his palm.

"Is this all?" he used his other hand to pull the glass out. She tried getting away from him but he grabbed her and switched positions so she would be pinned underneath him.

"Stop teasing me," he forced his lips on hers. She tried turning her face but he had a tight hold on her.

"Cece!" she heard Leon shout.

That gave her the strength she needed. She bucked the demon off of her and grabbed another shard of glass. She slashed at his chest. Dark red blood dripped onto the ground.

"You're only making me mad, little angel," he said, "you're not going to like me when I'm mad."

He rushed into her and they flew through a wall. Cecilia coughed up bright red blood. Her whole body was in pain. The lines on her arm moved and formed two clones holding purple blades. She wanted to conserve her energy but now was the time to act.

"I don't want to play with your fakes!" he yelled. The clones started attacking him.

They started doing the tactic that one distracts while the other attacks. The clone in front of him was keeping him busy by sending blow after blow. The other was about to jump on his back but he quickly turned around and threw her against the floor.

"Really?" he shouted at her, "really!" While he was distracted, the clone in front of him tried striking him but he punched her chest with so much force that he created a gaping hole. The clone fell to the ground and returned to a line. The other clone jumped into a standing position.

"No more," he summoned a long black sword, "I'm done playing." He chopped the clones head off. The clones body fell and turned back into a line.

"I don't think I'm going to spare Leon's life anymore. You really, really made me mad," he said.

He moved towards the living room.